It’s hard to be optimistic about the Edmonton Oilers after their miserable showing in St. Paul on Sunday night. Minus Taylor Hall and, lest we forget, Shawn Horcoff, the Oilers showed little jump, creativity, or emotion in falling meekly to the Minnesota Wild, 4-2.

It wasn’t as close as the score suggests. The Wild outshot the Oilers badly in this one, with the Oil getting one garbage goal from below the goal line and one utter fluke. They created so few problems for the Wild defensively that the home team took but a single penalty, during which powerplay the Oilers generated nothing while allowing a gold-plated scoring chance against. Worst of all was an embarrassing second period in which Edmonton was outshot by an 18-0 count. Yeah, you read that right.

After Magnus Paajarvi had scored at 17:58 of the first to tie the score, the Wild generated the next 22 shots on net. Only some heroic netminding by Devan Dubnyk got the Oil to the third period with a chance to win at 1-1, but that dissipated within 9 seconds as Mikko Koivu’s quick goal put the Wild ahead to stay. Their well-deserved lead re-established, the Wild carried it to the finish line with relative ease with just the fluke goal briefly causing them any concern. Only with Edmonton hopelessly behind by two in the last 3½ minutes did the Oilers really push the play, generating the game’s last 6 shots to make the final count slightly more “respectable” at 43-21.

With the loss, the Oilers fell to 14th in the West; with the performance, they looked like bottom feeders that have once again found their level.

Most frustrating of all was the Oilers’ inability to get engaged in this game. You’d think after all the poundings they’ve taken from the Wild, Edmonton would hate that particular opponent like few others, but once again they surrendered without a whimper in the badly misnamed Xcel Energy Center. By my admittedly critical eye, the only Oilers who got physically invested in this game were Ladi Smid, Theo Peckham, and Ryan Jones (none of whom actually played particularly well). A few others gave a decent effort, but it was far too little by far too few. Look out below…

Player Grades

The following are the player grades for the Oilers, with 10 being a “perfect” game, 9 extraordinary, 8 great, 7 good, 6 above average, 5 average, 4 below average, 3 poor, 2 terrible and 1 deserving of almost instant demotion. Compiled by Bruce McCurdy.

#2 Jeff Petry, 4. Did get engaged offensively, leading the blue with 3 shots on goal, earning an assist on Paajarvi’s first period marker, and jumping in the play repeatedly in the third once the Oilers fell behind. Wound up getting burned on a goaltender interference penalty that led to the clinching powerplay goal for the Wild. Defensively had all sorts of problems, especially on the first Wild goal in the early going where he first coughed up the puck, then joined a chorus line of four (4) Oilers who screened Dubnyk’s view of what should have been a routine point shot. Led Oilers in ice time with 22:06.

#5 Ladi Smid, 4. He too was part of the massive screen on the first goal, caught in no man’s land halfway between the shooter and Dubnyk. Played a hard physical game and paid the price with 3 hits and 2 blocks plus at least one nasty tumble.

#6 Ryan Whitney, 4. Forced one of Backstrom’s best saves when he jumped into the rush on a nice first-period sequence to take an RNH feed and fire from close range, otherwise had a forgettable night. Had a Corsi of +8/-17 at even strength as his pairing with Peckham was on their heels for much of the night.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 6. His line with Gagner and Paajarvi wound up +2, with Eberle earning an assist on Paajarvi’s goal while posting a team-best Corsi of +16/-6. Attempted just one shot himself though, with the coup de grace being when he passed up a shooting opportunity directly between the circles to make a back pass right through Yakupov’s feet and out of the zone with the goalie pulled and Oilers (finally) pressing late in the third.

#15 Nick Schultz, 3. Forgettable return to Minnesota, with a penalty and a well-deserved -2. His bad pinch in the opening seconds of the third led directly to the 2-1 goal, and he was caught out again on the winner making a bad switch with his partner. Nothing whatsoever on the event summary, nary a shot attempt, hit, blocked shot, or anything else.

#19 Justin Schultz, 5. He too was -2, hung out to dry by his teammates on the 2-1 goal, and at least taking a man (if not The man) on the winner. The Schultzes did OK by shot attempts — Justin’s EV Corsi of +21/-14 was solid enough — but of the 7 shots he personally attempted, only 1 got through to test Niklas Backstrom.

#20 Eric Belanger, 4. His line only got slaughtered a little.

#24 Theo Peckham, 4. Brought some physicality but precious little effectiveness. 4 hits to lead the squad, but had the worst Corsi differential of any blueliner at +7/-17.

#28 Ryan Jones, 4. Got taken down two or three times on a night the officials were inclined to look the other way. Had one great shift in the first period when he caused three different turnovers in Oilers’ direction, but like much of the team his game fell off in the last two periods. His late and utterly ineffective backcheck was a key ingredient in the game winning goal-against.

#37 Lennart Petrell, 2. Was one of the four Oilers who skated through Dubnyk’s field of view on the first goal — all of them accomplishing nothing — this after losing his only faceoff of the night to begin the sequence. His line with VandeVelde and Eager was flat out brutal, with Petrell’s Corsi of +2/-12 being by ratio the best (!) of the three. For good measure was out there for Dany Heatley’s late powerplay goal that removed all doubt, at a time Edmonton desperately needed a good kill to stay in the game (figuratively speaking).

#40 Devan Dubnyk, 6. Held his team in the game at 1-1 despite being outshot 29-7 through 40 minutes, but caved in the third period. Didn’t have much chance on Koivu’s hard wrister which took a deflection, then caught iron on the way in; or on Heatley’s mid-air deflection that bounced down off the ice, then off the post and in. But Charlie Coyle’s game winner on a long-ish backhand simply had to be stopped. 43 shots, 39 saves, .907.

#54 Chris VandeVelde, 2. Celebrated his return to his home state by getting kicked out of the circle on his first draw, the first domino in a nasty, brutish, and short sequence of pain that ended 11 seconds later with the puck in Edmonton’s net. Did manage to generate his line’s only shot attempt, but recorded an ugly Corsi of +1/-8 in just under 5 minutes of action. Horcoff can’t get back soon enough.

#55 Ben Eager, 1. Played 7½ minutes during which time Edmonton attempted 1 shot, Minnesota 13. He was the high man on the conga line on the first goal, failing to fill the shooting lane but effectively blocking Dubnyk’s view of the shot. Brought nothing in the way of physicality or anything else.

#64 Nail Yakupov, 4. Played industriously enough but generated nothing, with just two attempted shots, both of which got blocked. Ended a forgettable night with a big fat -2.

#83 Ales Hemsky, 3. His biggest contribution to the shotless second period was going offside on a developing 3-on-1. I’m starting to lose hope that Ales will ever figure out what that blue stripe on the ice is for. Had absolutely nothing going offensively all game, but got two shots in the very late stages. Did hustle on the backcheck to take away a 2-on-1.

#89 Sam Gagner, 6. Scored the flukiest goal of the year for Edmonton when Koivu’s clearing pass hit his skate behind the net, bounced in front, and was reflexively batted into the Minnesota net by Ryan Suter on a “what was I thinking?” blunder. Did contribute more legitimately to the sequence that led to Paajarvi’s goal, and his line generally held its own and then some.

#91 Magnus Paajarvi, 7. Edmonton’s best player for the second time this week, having been scratched for the two games in between times. Unfortunately when Magnus Paajarvi is your best player your team likely isn’t good enough to win, as was the case both times. In this one Magnus led the squad with all of 4 shots on goal (2 more than any other forward), scored a goal on a nice persistent second effort, and skated with purpose throughout. His 18:34 was a season high. Has shown some decent chemistry with Gagner and deserves another shot there even after Hall returns.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 3. If you had asked me nine games ago when would be the next time RNH would go nine games without an assist, I would have confidently asserted “never”. His scoring drought has stretched beyond mysterious into inexplicable. Defensively he had a fine first period in particular, but the third was another story, especially on the 2-1 goal when he tried to cover for N.Schultz but had his pocket picked by Koivu.

#94 Ryan Smyth, 4. OK defensively, but attempted just one shot, which missed. Oilers need more offensive output from youngsters and veterans alike.

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